Falling On Deaf Ears Literally
by Post U Later
Summary: So, Tony Has A Problem, Not Really A Big Problem In His Eyes, But When Is Anything A Big Problem To Him? He's Tony Stark, Nothing Is Too Big Or Too Broken For Him To Fix, Or Invent Something That Fixes The Problem. But When It's Him That's Broken, Will It Work The Same? Will He Be Able To Hide Or Fix What's Broken? OneShot Prompt, Features All The Avengers. Rated T For Tony's Mouth


**A/N~ Hey Y'All, I Know, This Isn't An Update For Mutant Emotions. But I Was Given This Great Challenge By **_mythologyrox_**.** **It Was Really Fun To Write & It Totally Gave Me Some Ideas For Mutant Emotions, So Don't Worry, I'll Be Posting A New Chapter For ME Next Tuesday. I'll Try To Get A Chapter Update For ME Next Week, But This Will Have To Tide You All Over In The Mean Time. ;P **

**I Just Want To Say This Now, But HOT DAMN! This Is BY FAR The Longest Thing I've Ever Written! Normally I'd Cut It Up Into Chapters, But I Thought This Would Be Better As A One Shot. Because I Wont Be Continuing It Unless Someone Requests It With Some Specifics They Want, Because I Have NOT Planned For A Sequel Or Anything.**

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**Disclaimer~ NOT MINE! The Only Thing That Could Be Mine Is The Hearing Aids. Which, In All Honesty, Would Be A Really Wicked Invention. If Only I Could Be As Smart As, If Only Half As Smart As Tony, Then I'd Make Them! **

**Warning~ Tony's Got A Bit Of A Potty Mouth, So Him… As Well As Mentions Of Torture & A Panic Attack Type Thing. **

**I'll Put The Prompt At The End. ****Well…** ENJOY!

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_Falling On Deaf Ears... Literally_

_11,346~_

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It happened in Afghanistan. Of course it did, everything bad that happens to Tony is eventually linked back to the time he spent in that _cave_. Stane had ordered him to be killed; he was taken _there_. He meets the best man he could ever have met; he dies _there_. He's being poisoned by the thing that's keeping him alive; the thing he created _there_. And now? He's lost his hearing, it happened because the idiots _there_ didn't have proper medical equipment and they couldn't even bandage up his torn, bloody ears properly.

It happened when the bomb went off. That stupid bomb that imbedded the stupid shrapnel in his chest. His bomb. The shockwave from being so close to the blast damaged his eardrums. It would have been an easy fix, if he had proper medical treatment. A clean up, some cotton in his ears, and rest would have let them heal up perfectly. Unfortunately, terrorists don't really care if you can hear properly when they want you to build weapons of mass destruction for them to use on unsuspecting civilians. So in the course of those three months Tony was in captivity, Yinsen(and it still hurts to even _think_ of his name) tried his best to keep them clean and infection free, but it was too no avail.

Dirty, cold, ice water gets into his ears when they dunk him, Yinsen tries to get it all out, but with the tools he's been given, it's impossible. The water is less than sanitary, and his ears get infected; he has a slight temperature the entire time he's in the cave. A few weeks after the completion of the Arc Reactor Yinsen told him that there was nothing he could do. He said that because of the infection, Tony would go deaf in a matter of a few months, at the most, a few weeks at the least. Tony had been devastated. Yinsen taught him learn to read lips as best as he could while his hearing slowly faded to nothing.

It wasn't until a day or so after he escaped and made it home that he went completely deaf. He had been lucky to be able to hear Rhodey's and Pepper's and Happy's and even JARVIS's(though synthesized as his was) voices's before he'd lost his ability to hear 100%. He could do without Obadiah's voice stuck in his head. He was just glad that he didn't _ever_ have to hear it again, in more than one way.

He was in his workshop, working on the one thing that could possibly help him, when it happened. He was fiddling with some wires on a Stark homemade hearing aid, listening to all the buzzes and whirrs of the machines and JARVIS rattling off some low oil measurements on one of his cars, when suddenly, everything was quiet. He honestly thought the power had gone out for a second, but then he realized that the lights were still on and he was so dumbfounded and shocked that the soldering iron slipped from his hand and burnt his finger. He cursed loudly, though he didn't hear a thing that came from his mouth. His burnt finger forgotten, Tony froze. The thing he had been dreading the past few months had just happened.

He honestly didn't know how to react to such a thing. How does one deal with losing one of your five senses? Do you throw a fit? Break down into depression and cry yourself to sleep every night? Do you give up? Do you pretend nothing's wrong? He didn't even know where to start.

Tony leaned back in his chair, told JARVIS to lock down the lab, no one in, no one out. Not even in the case of an emergency. Tony didn't hear the AI ask what was wrong or if he should call Pepper. He wasn't even sure if he had actually said anything at all. But he felt his lips move and his throat working, so he guessed he had. He could feel himself saying '_JARVIS, initiate protocol Apocalypse._' Tony didn't hear the door lock, or the extra panels sliding into place to keep out anything, even a car ramming it at high speed, but he saw the windows tint until they were solid and the metal sheets covering them. He didn't hear the concerned voice of his AI butler ask if he could do anything. God he wished he had, because then he could have asked for something, he didn't know what, just something, _anything_, anything to help... maybe a tissue for the tears he could feel flowing down his cheeks. He couldn't even hear his own sobs, but he sure as hell felt them.

After his break down and explaining to JARIVS what had happened to him, the AI used one of the holo-screens to type everything he needed to say to his creator. Tony could only guess that JARVIS felt bad, and maybe even a bit depressed himself, because even the AI's text seemed a bit sad to Tony, though it could have just been his imagination and the font of the text working together. Then Tony got to work on finishing those special hearing aids.

His first prototype was very similar to the regular version that came with an implant, and he made sure that it worked perfectly. Unfortunately, Tony didn't trust doctors so he had to come up with some other way for it to work.

After a week in the lab, Tony finally had a breakthrough. If he fastened the SCI(Stark Cochlea Implant) that he'd made right behind the ear, instead of above it and inside the head, he wouldn't need to go into an invasive surgery or go under while a doctor cut into his head. After weeks in the lab Tony created the first prototypes; they were bulky, heavy, and barely worked strong enough to make anything even louder than a whisper, but they worked and Tony shed tears of joy, because _He. Could. HEAR_!

After another week, he devised a way that the outer part of his SCI was much smaller;

about the size of a quarter that stuck to his head right behind the ear, and lighter; weighing less than a dime, and stronger, he could hear better than before he had become deaf. He even designed it to be compatible with his bluetooth, seeing as they didn't create many sound waves, it hooked right up to them wirelessly and it practically sounded as if the person on the other end(probably Pepper) was talking inside his head, it was weird at first, but he quickly got used to it.

The only problem was, because it wasn't inside his head, it had to transmit the sound waves directly into his Scala tympani instead of going though the cochlea; it was also the tricky part with it's creation, it was uncomfortable and caused him headaches if he kept them in for too long, as well as chaffing behind his ears. The adhesive he used would pull his hair if he wasn't careful when taking it off, and the waves would stress his Scala tympani and cause headaches and possibly migraines.

However, sometimes, Tony preferred the quiet. Nothing buzzing in his ears, no Pepper complaining to him about the eight thousand and eleven things she needs to talk to him about. No JARVIS bugging him about the projects that he needs to look over for R&D or the things for SHIELD he needs to complete before Fury calls and yells at him. He doesn't have Happy or Rhodey banging on his door to ask if he wants to go out for a drink... Or if he does, he doesn't hear them, because right now those hearing aids are sitting on the table in front of him and he's leaning back in his chair, just enjoying the quiet, peaceful silence.

But eventually Tony needs to go back to work, finish those projects for R&D and SHIELD, go to those Galas Pepper keeps nagging him about, talk and hang out with Happy and Rhodey. But Tony tries not to go out in public as much, he tries to keep it a secret. And Tony's noticed how Pepper notices things. He sees her notice how sometimes, when she comes down to the lab, he jumps when she sits in front of him, like he didn't hear her come in with her loud high heals clacking on the tile floor, or how sometimes she can't get his attention unless she touches his arm or shoulder. Of course she knows something's wrong, suspects what it is, but she also _knows_ that Tony will deny anything she says; it's who he is. And he knows that she knows that. And he notices that she always tries to stay in his line of site or touches him as much as possible when she's behind him so he can follow her movements so he knows where she is at all times. And he won't say thank you, she doesn't expect it. Mainly because saying thanks would be admitting that she was doing something to help him, and that would mean that there was something wrong. So instead, when he kisses her, he puts a bit of extra passion and love into it as a thanks. And this way, he can pretend that she doesn't know what it's for, but they both know that she really does.

And now, after the invasion of the goat horned maniac god with a brother complex and serious anger issues, Tony's surprised none of them found out about his condition. And now he's worried, but even more so, he's scared, and Tony Stark doesn't do _scared_. But he is, and he freely admits it to only himself. Fury's ordered the Avengers to live in Stark Tower, and although Tony doesn't really care about them taking up a floor of the tower, he does mind that he has to interact with them and treat them as friends, when he doesn't really trust them or even like them; Bruce is the exception.

Everyone thinks it's because he doesn't want to share the tower or his living space or that he doesn't want to play well with them. In reality, he's terrified that now that he's living with the Avengers; a team made of spies, scientists, royal gods, and super soldiers; people who are trained and paid to notice these types of things, that he'll be found out. He's surprised that Natasha hadn't called him out on it when she worked undercover at his company. She should have noticed when they first met. He hadn't been wearing his hearing aids, just reading Happy's lips when Pepper had entered, Natalie Rushman right behind her. When he had begun listing off her qualities and his impression of her, he had honestly been confused when she had told him that's not what she meant. He hadn't heard her pull out the papers from behind her and his eyes were focused on her lips, reading them to see what she was saying, and he didn't understand until he had followed her eyesight down to the papers in her hands. He nearly flushed at his rookie mistake; he had been deaf for nearly 2 years by that time, he was practically a pro, but he had slipped up and it nearly shocked him that she hadn't spotted it.

He was sure that Agent Coulson new, the man just knew everything. It was kinda creepy the way the man knew anything and everything. He had no doubt the man knew after that incident down in the lab when Tony had Coulson hand him that shield to level the machine he was building. But he had enough trust in the Agent that Tony knew he wouldn't say anything. He didn't know how he knew the man wouldn't tell Fury, but he didn't. But now the man was dead, killed in action, by Loki. He never even got to thank the man, not that he would have, but if he had gotten the chance now, he would, because he noticed and didn't treat him any different, or tell anyone.

Natasha _should_ have noticed his disability when she was working for him, and he was grateful that she hadn't, but now that he was going to be _living_ with her, and Barton, and Thor, and Rodgers, and Bruce, it was only a matter of time before he was found out. And he was going to put that off until the very last possible moment.

He wanted this to last, this Avengers thing that he suddenly found himself thrown into and surprisingly enjoyed. Tony was surprised when he hit the one year mark, and no one had found out. It had been exactly a year since the team moved into the tower and what do you know, everything just had to get fucked up then. It had lasted much longer than Tony thought it would, given who his new house mates were, but he was happy he'd had that long without the pitying looks.

It had been a complete disaster when they found out; Tony had been scared, terrified really, caught without his hearing aids, surrounded by the team, vulnerable and weak. In truth, he felt as if his life was being threatened, and it very well was. His life as he now knew it was on the verge of utter destruction, and he hated it.

They had just finished up with a mission, one with Doom Bots and Hammerdroids attacking the city together, or at least the same time. They weren't sure if Dr. Doom Hammer had teamed up, but the Fantastic Four were out of the country and the Avengers were left to clean up their mess.

Tony had taken a hit with an EMP blast towards the end that knocked out his hearing aids; long ago he had made his suit immune to those pesky EMP's but he hadn't gotten around to fixing up his hearing aid yet. He was out of communication with his team for a short time, until JARVIS had opened up a sort of chat box that displayed what each Avenger was saying. Though in that short amount of time that Tony was out of contact with his team, they had needed his help drastically, but he hadn't been able to help.

To say they were all angry was an understatement; Natasha ended up with a sprained ankle and Clint with a fractured wrist and a heavily bruised back from pulling another stunt of jumping off a building like he had during the invasion. They had both called for Iron Man's assistance, but Tony had been unable to come to their aid and when the fight was over and they were in their debriefing, they had let their ire be known.

"At 2:15 I called over the com. for assistance from Iron Man, he never came and I was forced to jump from a two story building to escape a group of Doom Bots." Natasha said, he arms crossed and her finger tapping against her forearm. "I now have a sprained ankle that medical says I can't put too much pressure on for a week. I've been benched from mission for a week as well."

"And I called for a lift from Iron Man at 2:17 and when he didn't show I was forced to leap from a 20 story building. Using one of my grappling hook arrow I was able to save myself from a deadly fall, but a Hammerdroid was able to cut my line before I landed safely and I now have a fractured wrist and _fucking_ hell of a lot of bruises on my back." Clint complained, pointing to the cast on his right wrist. "I'm banned from missions for nearly a _month_!"

Everyone glared at Tony with an irritated look. God Tony wished Bruce was there, the man was still in his post-Hulk coma-like sleep and they'd let him stay in medical to get it rest. Tony had tried to explain what had happened but no body believed him.

"I told you, I lost communications for nearly five minutes!" Tony exclaimed. "There was nothing I could do. I didn't even know you called for me."

"And explain to us again just _how_ you lost communications?" Fury asked, his one eyes pinned on Tony's. "Because I was led to believe that your suit was unaffected by EMPs."

"I don't know what to tell you Fury, I was hit by the EMP and I lost contact." Tony said exasperatedly. "There's nothing I could do, I only got communications back up because I had JARVIS hack the coms. and had him tell me what everyone was saying."

"You expect us to believe that you were hit with an EMP and the only thing that went down was your com.?" Steve butted in angrily. "Your suit worked fine, JARVIS worked fine, but your com. was suddenly kaput?"

"Kaput? Really Cap?" Tony said, raising one eyebrow. "No one says kaput anymore."

Tony watched as Steve's face turned red with anger and Fury rubbed his temple with an irritated sigh. He was having trouble keeping up with everything everyone was saying. He felt like he was getting whip lash. He hadn't been able to fix his hearing aids yet and he was forced to read everyone's lips. He really just wanted to rub his hands over his face, but he had to make sure he saw everything everyone was saying. He was just lucky that he had a good view of everyone.

"Stark, can't you take anything serious for even a second?" Steve snapped. "This is a problem, you always disobey orders, but we could count on you to come to our aid if we truly needed you, but It looks like you let us down even there. We trusted you and you took that trust and threw it in the mud."

"I believe the Captain is correct." Thor said, he had been relatively quiet the whole time, not knowing how even basic tech worked. "The Man of Iron was not there when our SHIELD mates were in need of assistance. This is a great sadness that our trust has been treated with such ill care."

"Ill care? What are you talking about." Tony stood up and slammed his hands on the table. "It's not my fault my com was blown by the EMP, and I haven't thrown the trust you have in me in the mud. I would never do that."

"Stark, save it." Fury said, tired of the billionaire's attempts to save himself. "You're benched until both Agents Barton and Romanoff are fully healed, then we will talk about this again we'll see if everyone wants to continue to fight along side someone they can't trust. If so, then you can come back, until then, you're off the team."

"You're kicking me off the team because my com went dead?" Tony asked, shocked.

Everyone else was a bit surprised at the drastic measures Fury was taking, but they were all far too angry to argue with the decision. Tony was hurt. Not physically, but his honest to god _feelings_ were hurt. He hadn't felt this betrayed since he had fought Rhodey on his birthday a few years back. He was sure that the hurt, betrayed look was showing through his eyes and on his face, because suddenly everyone was looking at him with something akin to shocked confusion. Even Fury.

Was it really that much of surprise that Tony Stark had feelings that could be hurt? He was human after all, and he didn't suffer from some mental disorder that caused him to be emotionless, so it shouldn't have caused that much confusion. And thinking that they all thought he was incapable of feeling made him feel even more hurt than before.

In his pain, Tony turned around and walked away from the table and towards the door. He didn't want to be in the same room as them, he had trusted them. If anyone's trust had been thrown in the mud or had been ill cared for, it had been his. Tony walked quickly to the door. He didn't hear the chorus of chairs scraping the ground as the group of super heros stood and raced after him. Tony had just reached the door when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He couldn't help it; he jumped at the sudden contact and spun around quickly, catching the end of a sentence spoken by the good Captain himself.

"-you okay?" Steve looked worried, a deep contrast to the pure anger or deep confusion that was there less than a minute ago. "Tony? Tony?"

It took Tony a second to understand what was being said to him. He saw the looks of concern that filtered over everyone's faces, though Natasha and Fury's were well concealed as usual.

"Don't touch me." Tony bit at the Captain, ignoring what he had read on the man's lips, and pushing his hand off him. "I thought I threw your trust in the mud?"

"Tony?" Steve said, worried; Tony wasn't one to show much emotion besides anger and amusement. "What's wrong with you?"

"Me? Absolutely nothing." Tony said innocently, his attitude doing a 180. "I was just kicked off the team for something I _couldn't control_ and apparently I lost everyones trust. So nothing is _wrong _with me. You on the other hand? Something is very _wrong _with you. _All_ of you."

Tony pointed a finger at everyone in the room, Fury included. Then without another word, Tony turned around and walked out of the room and straight to the hanger where he kept his suit. By the time the team had gathered their wits and headed to the hanger too, Tony was long gone and nearly back at the tower.

When Tony got to the tower, he ran past Pepper, not even noticing her on the couch, nor hearing her calls of worry, and straight to the elevator and down to his lab. He had JARVIS lock the doors, the windows, the vents(Damn Clint), and told JARVIS not to let anyone in, not even Pepper or Bruce. He told JARVIS the lab was on lockdown.

He paced the lab as he thought of what had happened. He couldn't believe what Fury had said, or the fact that the team hadn't even objected. Did they really not trust him to have his back? He always had his back, except this one time, and he could't have done anything different to prevent being hit by that EMP. He'd executed evasive maneuvers, but it had target lock and followed him until he had been attacked by a group of both Hammerdroids and Doom Bots. He had been back into a corner and trapped, his suit holding quite a bit of damage.

There was literally nothing he could have done. He had, in fact, been about to call for some back up himself, but the EMP had gone off and he had lost his hearing before he could. He wondered if he had really lost their trust or if they were simply mad. He couldn't be sure. But he was sure that he couldn't trust them anymore. If they so easily agreed with him being kicked off the team, then they obviously didn't care for him. He couldn't even tell them the truth, he'd given them the closest thing he could without telling them he was deaf.

And then there was their worry as he left. He couldn't tell if it was real or faked. Natasha and Fury, he hadn't even see it on their faces, but then again, he never saw anything but anger on their faces. Rogers, Thor and Clint were another story. Thor was very open and easy to read, as was Rogers, Clint was somewhere in between Natasha and Rogers, nearly as good as Tony himself in hiding his emotions, but for all he knew, all three of them were faking. He knew they were capable actors, they'd done enough undercover missions to know that. Tony wasn't sure if he could even call any of them friends anymore. It had been hard to forgive Rhodey after everything went down, helping him defeat Vanko had helped, but it still took months of Rhodey begging and pleading for Tony to finally forgive him, and even longer for Tony to trust him again.

But now these 5 people he had trusted(Okay he didn't completely trust Natasha and Fury, but he was getting there) had just betrayed that trust. He didn't know what to do. JARVIS had been urging Tony to tell them of his deafness, saying it would help him in the long run, but now? There was no way he was telling them. The only way they would find out is if they pried it from his cold dead fingers... figuratively speaking of course, or if they figured it out themselves, though, if they confronted him about it, he'd deny it and tell them to prove it.

He may tell Bruce, depending on what he thought of the whole situation. The scientist had been absent though the whole thing, still being unconscious after all, but Tony found himself unsure of his ScienceBro's opinion. Bruce knew that Tony's suit was immune to EMPs and therefore would come to the same conclusion that Tony was lying, but would he agree that Tony didn't deserve to be on the team anymore? Bruce was more of a follower, even though he had been coming out of his large green shell lately, but would he decide to agree with the group? If that happened... Tony didn't want to think about it anymore, it was depressing him and making him feel secluded.

Feeling sad and alone, Tony decided to work on fixing his the thing that had started this. He turned to the table that he had thrown his hearing aids on, he sat down and raised two holo-screens, pushing other projects and parts of suits out of the way and began to work, JARVIS commenting on the right screen every now and then.

~Tony StarkratS ynoT~

The team had arrived close to half an hour after Tony had, Bruce with them. They entered the TV area of the Avengers living room, finding an angry Pepper waiting for them. They were about to ask where Tony was but she cut them off.

"I don't know what you did, but you better fix it." It was an order, they all knew; Pepper was scarier than Natasha when she wanted to be. "Or you can find yourself a new home."

"Pepper-" Steve started, but was interrupted.

"That's Miss Potts to you." She hissed, glaring icily at them. "All of you."

"Don't worry Pepper, I'll handle it." Bruce began, glaring at the rest of the team. "We'll go down there right now and fix this."

Pepper nodded, seemingly satisfied, and the team didn't argue, no one really argued with a man who could turn into a ten foot tall green rage monster whenever he got angry. Bruce led the team down to the lab. When he had woken up, he was told what happened and was beyond furious at the treatment of his friend. He watched the security footage from the debriefing on the flight from the Helicarrier to the tower and had gotten even angrier, then worried for his friend. From what he had seen, something was wrong with Tony; he knew Tony was lying about his suit malfunctioning due to the EMP, but something had gone wrong and Tony had lost communication with the team. And when he left, being startled when Steve had touched him, Bruce had noticed similar things happen to the genius when he thought he was alone. It worried Bruce to no end, not knowing what was wrong. He had to make sure his friend was okay.

When they got to the lab, Bruce tried his access code, but it blinked red instead of the normal green. Bruce tried it again but then JARIVS announced they weren't allowed in.

"_I'm sorry Dr. Banner, but SIr has initiated lab lockdown. He ordered no one be allowed in, including you and Miss Potts, until I'm told otherwise._" JARVIS said, sounding a little sorry for them.

"Is there anyway we can get in?" Bruce asked. "They want to apologize for what they said on the Helicarrier."

"_I am sorry to say that Sir does not wish to speak to any of you about what was said on the Helicarrier._" JARVIS said, his tone sounding almost angry now. "_I believe that none of you, sans Dr. Banner, were very fair to Sir in the regards that he lost communication with all of you. It was not his fault and he would have appreciated some assistance before he was ambushed and hit with the EMP._"

"I agree JARVIS, they weren't fair," Bruce agreed. "That's why they're here, to apologize on not believing him and agreeing with Fury about him being off the team."

"_That did upset Sir quite a bit._" JARVIS said, sounding as it he was scolding children. "_You should be ashamed of yourselves. And I'm sorry, but I am unable to grant you access._"

That made them feel all the more horrible about what they had done. JARVIS didn't speak his opinions to anyone, but Tony, often, so for the AI to out right tell them they were in the wrong was like an arrow in the gut.

"Then we shall grant ourselves access." Thor said, determinedly lifting his hammer.

"I don't think that'll be a good idea, he's already pissed at you all, breaking his door will not make him feel any better." Bruce tried to reason, but it seemed like he was ignored.

"Do you think you can knock that door down?" Clint asked. "I remember him saying once that that door could take a high speed car. It's almost Hulk-proof."

"Eye, but I am no fast metal machine nor am I our green friend." Thor pointed out. "I shall vanquish this barrier and we shall confront our friend to say our sorries."

Steve just nodded and took a step back. Thor lifted his hammer, swinging it in a circle for a second, before letting it go. It flew into the metal plated door, denting it so much that it broke the lock and fractured the metal frame, but the door didn't open. Thor did it again, shocked that it didn't open the first time. It gave the second time, coming halfway off the frame and slamming into the wall behind it, leaving a dent from the door handle.

The group walked in, expecting a furious Tony Stark, possible getting into his Iron Man suit, if JARVIS didn't tell him it was them, or maybe because he told him it was them. But what they saw surprised and puzzled them. Tony was calmly working, hunched over at his desk, as if 5 people hadn't just broken into his lab though sheer brute force. The group looked at each other in confusion.

"Tony?" Bruce called out warily. "Tony?"

"Yo, Stark!" Clint Yelled.

"Friend Stark, we wish to make amends and give you our deepest apologies." Thor boomed.

Tony continued to work as though he hadn't heard a thing they said. They noticed that one of the holo-screens was blinking with a red light, probably some type of warning, but Tony was ignoring that too.

"Stark, just listen to us, please." Steve said, but didn't get a reply. "Come on, Tony. We're sorry we didn't believe you."

Tony kept on working, not even twitching in reaction to their words.

"He's ignoring us." Natasha said angrily, "Completely ignoring us."

"Well lets make it so he can't ignore us." Clint said, mimicking a choke hold with his arms.

"Lets not get carried away." Bruce said when Natasha nodded in agreement, trying to talk some reason into the team. "We don't want to hurt him anymore than he already is."

"I agree, Tony's already pissed, lets just try to talk to him." Steve said. "He'll get annoyed sooner or later. He'll have to talk to us, or at least yell at us to get out."

"Agreed, we shall wait for him to explode a gas tank." Thor said.

"It's blow a gasket thunder butt." Clint said.

"I am aware," Thor said with a sigh. "I was hoping to get a response of amusement."

"Oh..."

They walked over to the table Tony was working at, standing behind him and talking, rather loudly and obnoxiously. Trying their hardest to say things that would piss the genius off and make him turn around to confront them; things about Tony, about his company, his bots, JARVIS, his friends, and even Pepper. But nothing they said got the genius's attention. Not even insulting Tony's genius mind, which would normally make the man act like a raving lunatic.

Then they switched gears, trying to make him laugh and bargaining with him. Saying things like 'You should have seen the look on Fury's face when you left, it looked as if you had dyed all his eyepatches bright pink!' and 'If you talk to us, we'll let you dye Natasha's hair any color you want!' Clint got a bruised arm for that and a counter offer of 'If you talk to us, you can write and draw whatever you want on Clint's cast.' But they still got nothing.

"He's good." Natasha complimented. "Better than I would have thought."

"how can he just ignore all of us?" Steve asked in wonder.

"Well he's working, so he could just be really focused." Bruce said. "I remember Pepper saying once that she ranted to him for an hour and when he turned around he was actually surprised that she was there and that he hadn't heard a single thing she said."

"What is he working on anyway?" Clint asked. "It's not a part of the suit, looks like some kind of electric patch or something."

"I don't know, I've never seen." Bruce said, looking over Tony's shoulder. "Though he's obviously been working on it for awhile, it's complete. Though it looks like he's fixing whatever it is."

"Well, maybe if you take it from him we'd get a reaction?" Steve asked.

"We could try." Clint said, "'Tasha think you could grab it before he can pull it away?"

She simply raised an eyebrow at him and he gave her a shrug. She sighed and stood directly behind Tony. with lightening quick speed, she reached around him and snatched up the hearing aids.

They had all expected a reaction. Maybe a outcry of rage, maybe a 'What the hell! Give that back!' or maybe even a frustrated sigh. But not in a thousand years(Thor can testify to this), did they expect what actually happened.

As soon as Natasha grabbed the hearing aids, Tony jumped, a scream on his lips, and he reached for the the gauntlet that was sitting on the counter. Grabbing the gauntlet he put it on as he spun around, the most frightened look they had ever seen on his face. He must have been panic mode, because he pointed the gauntlet at them. It charged in an instant, and with lightening fast reflexes Natasha dropped the hearing aids on the table, grabbed Tony's hand, pushing it up and away from everyone. The repulsor shot hit the ceiling and Natasha used the power from the shot to push Tony to the ground, pulling his arm around his back and yanking off the gauntlet.

To say everyone was shocked at Tony's reaction would be the greatest understatement of the year. Tony looked petrified as he was held down, his eyes firmly shut as he tried to force Natasha off of him, screaming the whole time. Natasha, even with her training, was shocked. She had know the billionaire the longest out of all of them, and she'd never seen him like this before. She quickly gained control of herself and started talking to Tony, trying to calm him down, but it didn't seem to do anything at all.

Then suddenly Tony went limp, he stopped struggling and stopped screaming. Tony just laid there shaking and shivering, his eyes still closed, but tears slipped out of them, shocking everyone even more.

There was a loud click above everyone, causing them to look up at the ceiling, only to see several machine guns pointed at them.

"_Miss Romanoff, I would suggest letting Mr. Stark go._" JARVIS's unusually angry British voice came though the speakers. "_You have five seconds._"

Natasha instantly let go of Tony. She knew that when if came to his creator, JARVIS didn't play around, she'd seen some of the reports of times when Tony was attacked in his home and JARVIS protected him. Lets just say the intruders wouldn't be making it to trial. She quickly stood up and backed away from Tony and joined the others, all of them had their hands raised.

The instant Natasha was off Tony, he scrambled up onto his knees, turning around quickly and scooting back until he hit the desk with his back. He looked frightened and seemingly didn't recognize any of them. He had one hand placed against the Arc Reactor and held the other, oddly enough, up to his left ear.

"Tony what's wrong?" Bruce asked and took a step forward, but JARVIS pointed one of the machine guns directly at him in warning.

Suddenly a holo-screen popped up next to Tony, catching his attention, and they could all see a line of text cross the screen. Then Tony seemed to calm down as he read whatever was on the screen. Tony took several deep breaths, releasing them in long sighs as the shivers in his body subsided. Another line of text rolled across the screen and Tony froze, before slowly turning his head towards the group of worried and confused super heros.

The saying 'a dear in the headlights' fit the look on Tony's face better than an actual dear. His large brown eyes were wide in shock and fear and he wasn't moving an inch, though his breathing was still a bit labored.

Bruce took another step forward, and JARVIS let off a warning shot, it hit the ground an inch away from Bruce's foot. Bruce fought to control the Hulk inside him.

"I wont hurt him JARVIS." Bruce promised.

There was a moment of tense silence before the machine guns retracted a bit, taking their aim off of Bruce singularly and back on the group as a whole. Bruce took this a sign that he could be trusted. He took another step forward, only for Tony to try and scoot back farther, only to hit the desk behind him.

"Don't worry Tony, I wont hurt you. I promise" Bruce assured, but it did nothing to quell the genius.

The holo-screen lit up with a line of text. As Tony read the text, he visibly calmed, if only a little. From what the others could see, the text was a copy of what Bruce had just said. It confused everyone, they assumed it was JARVIS who was controlling the screen, but why would he repeat what Bruce had just said. It struck Bruce like a freight train: Tony ignoring them all to the extent he had, him being surprised and terrified when Natasha grabbed the devises on the table, Tony coving his ear in defense, and his eyes widened. He looked at the devices that Tony had been working on, he'd seen something similar before, a few of his friends had them from college and when he worked with Betty, before Hulk had come along. They were hearing aids, or if Tony had created them, something with a similar effect. He turned back to Tony.

"Tony? Can you hear me?" Bruce asked.

The other's behind Bruce looked confused, why would Bruce ask something like that. Steve was about to voice his confusion when he was stopped by Tony's shocked expression. Tony had kept his eyes on the holo-screen and when JARVIS reiterated what Bruce had asked, he quickly moved his gaze from the screen to Bruce. His mouth opened and closed a few time before he looked down and away, ashamed, and that answered the question for the whole team.

"You can't hear me." Bruce said in a shocked and awed tone. "Tony are you deaf?"

The screen flashed a bright color, gaining Tony's attention, obviously JARVIS was used to this, so it hadn't been a recent thing. Tony read the screen as he wiped the tears off his cheeks, and again the ashamed look appeared on his face, though this time he looked Bruce straight in the eyes and nodded.

Bruce let out a quick breath and brushed his hair back. He looked back at the team, all of whom stood shocked. Tony was deaf? _Tony Stark_ was _deaf?_ How was this possible? Bruce saw that none of them were composed enough to ask any pertinent questions, so he looked back at Tony, who was still staring at him.

"How long?" Bruce finally asked.

Tony looked at the screen as JARVIS translated for him.

"S-since just after A-Afghanistan." Tony's scratched, dry throat stuttered out.

There were gasps from everyone as Tony told them. Afghanistan had happened a little over 3 years ago, _how had they not noticed?_

"How did you hear in the debrief?" Bruce asked, remembering that Tony had answered questions and even joked about what Steve had said. "If you're deaf, how could you...?"

"I can r-read lips." Tony coughed.

"Why aren't you now?" Bruce asked with a mixture of curiosity and worry.

"Too w-worked up." Tony said, looking at Natasha for a second before looking away. "Can't concentrate enough."

"What are those?" Clint asked quickly as to move on, pointing to the devices on the table.

Tony read the screen, obviously JARVIS told him that it was Clint and what he was pointing at, because Tony glared at him, an obvious 'what's it to you?' look. They all flinched back a bit, obviously Tony hadn't forgotten what had happened in the debriefing almost an hour earlier.

"Tony are those hearing aids?" Bruce asked.

Tony just nodded after reading the question, but then he shrugged. Bruce knew Tony well enough that there was more to it than that.

"Can you explain?" Bruce asked.

Tony just sighed. He was really tired, his shoulder hurt, as did his chest and his mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton. Tony turned to one of JARVIS's cameras and looked at it pleadingly, then more text flowed and as Tony read it, he nodded. The team noticed a bot, with a claw for a head, Bruce and Natasha knew him as DUM-E, holding a glass of water rolled up next to Tony, tapping him on the shoulder. Tony jumped slightly, then petted the bot on the head, instantly apologizing. Tony took the water and downed half the glass before coming up for air. Tony coughed a few times then set the glass down. The bot rested his head on Tony's shoulder, and Tony brought a hand up to pat the bot on the head again. Tony sighed again before looking at Bruce.

"They're like Cochlea Implants, just without the implantation part." Tony said quickly, his throat still a bit raw from screaming.

"So you're completely deaf?" Steve asked in disbelief.

Tony didn't answer him, so Bruce asked instead, causing Tony sigh and gave short curt answer, but he answered nonetheless.

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Bruce asked.

"It was my business." Tony said after reading what Bruce had asked. "I haven't told anyone. Pepper doesn't even know."

"Pepper doesn't know?" Bruce asked, shocked.

Tony shook his head.

"I haven't told her, but I'm positive she know." Tony said, rubbing his hand along DUM-E's claw. "She's very perceptive, and we've lived together for a while before you all came along."

"She's worried about you." Bruce said, and Tony saw the flashing light from the holo-screen and read the text. "When we got here, she was furious and demanded that we fix whatever was wrong."

"And do you know what's wrong?" Tony asked, and suddenly Tony looked hesitant and nervous.

"If you mean what happened in the debriefing?" Bruce asked and Tony nodded. "Yeah, I was shown the footage and heard everyone's story."

"And what do you think?" Tony said, swallowing nervously. "Do you agree?"

"What? No! Of course I don't agree." Bruce said, a bit angrily that Tony thought he'd have agreed to what Fury had said. "It's completely unsound and sure you were lying about your suit losing communication, but whatever happened, it wasn't your fault."

"What did happen anyway?" Clint asked, and for the first time since the helicarrier, Tony answered someone other than Bruce.

"My hearing aids broke because of the EMP." Tony said. "I haven't had the time to update them yet."

"So you really did lose communication with us, you couldn't hear us at all." Steve said, beginning to understand what had happened. Tony nodded.

"Doesn't matter now." Tony muttered.

"What do you mean?" Thor asked.

"You all heard Fury, I'm off, at least until Barton and Romanoff are healed." Both SHIELD Agents flinched at the use of their last names. "And I doubt you'd want to work with me now that you know of my... _disability._"

Tony spat the word out like he was admitting his greatest weakness; which he actually was, and causing everyone to frown. Did Tony really think that they wouldn't want to work with him now that they knew he was deaf?

"Tony, we still want to fight with you." Bruce looked behind him and the rest of the team nodded. "We came down here to apologize. We're sorry."

"We come asking for forgiveness Man of Iron." Thor said, looking ashamed. "We have been the ones to give ill care to your trust."

"Yeah, sorry Stark." Clint said, scratching the back of his neck. "We should have listened to you, and not agreed with Fury so easily."

"I, _we_, are very sorry for not sticking up for you Tony." Steve said, looking sad. "I would be honored to have you apart of my team again, no matter what Fury says."

"Sorry." Natasha said curtly, but for once, Tony could see the sincerity in her eyes.

Tony read the text, looking back and forth from the screen to the looks on everyone's faces. It took a few minutes before he finally nodded, a small smile pulling at his lips.

"Lets get you off the ground." Steve suggested, taking a step forward, only to stop when DUM-E whirred his claw'd head, with what Steve could only describe as a growl, and rolled forward a bit.

"It's alright DUM-E, I'm fine." Tony said with a fond look, one the team rarely saw; it was usually reserved for Pepper, JARVIS, Rhodey, and lately, Bruce.

Tony let DUM-E help him stand, then he sat in the seat he was in while working on his hearing aids. He had almost finished them before he was _attacked_. Tony wheeled the chair around so he could be sitting at the desk and could still see everyone. This caused everyone to feel a little sad; sad that Tony now had to be able to see them to feel comfortable. Then they wondered how many times they'd seen Tony when he didn't have his hearing aids in and he felt uncomfortable because of them.

"Hey guys?" Tony asked, and they all looked up at him from their inner thoughts. "I'm going to finish these before it gets too late."

Tony pointed to the hearing aids on the desk and they all nodded. Tony set to work as the group found seat around the lab; they all consciously made sure that they were in Tony's sight, especially Natasha, who had been the one to set off the major reaction in the first place.

They were down there for nearly half an hour, the entire time Tony kept peeking up and glancing at everyone to see if they had moved; they hadn't. When Tony was finally finished he set down his tools, making a loud clank against the desk And though Tony didn't hear it, it alerted everyone to the fact that he was now done. They watched as Tony pulled out a jar of what looked like paste or Vaseline and applied it to the patch part of the device and the placed it just behind his ear and out of sight. It was hard to see, nearly impossible unless you knew it was there and looking for it, even then it was hard, it blended in with Tony's skin so well. There was a small metal part that attached to the back of his ear from the patch; it was small and also very hard to see.

Tony took a breath and pushed a button on the back of the device behind both his ears and then Tony closed his eyes, just letting the sound flow for a second. He listened as the sounds rushed to his ear and took over, he could hear the machines buzzing, DUM-E whirring somewhere behind him and Clint fiddling with something on the table he sat at. Tony opened his eyes and glared at Clint, who was actually fiddling with some delicate machinery.

"Clint, put that down." Tony ordered. "That's very fragile."

"Sorry." Clint said as he put the objet down softly.

"Just don't mess with it again." Tony said and stood up, waving the holo-screens away.

"So you can hear again?" Steve asked.

"Yep." Tony said, he hadn't needed to read a screen or even look at Steve to hear him, _God it's good to hear again._ Tony thought.

"Incredible." Bruce said. "A Cochlea Implant without the implant. That's amazing Tony."

"Ya think?" Normally Tony would have said it sarcastically, but this time it was said self-consciously. "It's nothing much. Just a regular Cochlea Implant, I just modified it a bit."

"Do not downplay yourself my friend," Thor boomed. "It is a great achievement."

"Uh... thanks Hammer Time." Tony said, the clapped his hands. "Well..."

Tony looked around at the group of superhero's just standing in his lab staring at him. He was very confused as to why they were still there.

"What are you still doing here?" Tony asked confused.

"What do you mean?" Bruce asked, confused like Tony.

"Why aren't you, you know, leaving?" Tony raised an eyebrow and glanced at the broken door suggestively, just now noticing that the door was, in fact, broken. "MY DOOR!"

Tony pushed past Bruce and Steve, ignoring everyone as he ran to the destroyed entrance. Tony stared in shock at the dented and destroyed metal of the door, the door frame and the wall itself. Tony turned back to the group, eyes alit with fury. He pointed at the door as he addressed the team.

"_Who_, did this?" Tony asked quietly, his tone deadly.

No one answered, too scared of the genius to give a reply.

"I'll ask one more time." Tony said. "Then I get JARVIS to tell me, and I'll be even angrier. WHO! Broke _my_ door!"

Clint was the first one to move, pointing directly at Thor, the others followed only seconds later and Thor even pointed at himself, looking a little ashamed. Tony turned a glare rivaling Pepper's towards Thor, who flinched a bit.

"I apologize my friend." Thor said, looking genuinely sorry. "We could not gain entry without the use of force. We were worried for you and your safety, and were in need to seek your forgiveness. Forgive me for acting with such rash actions that have caused damage to your home."

Thor bowed low in an act of saying sorry again. When he looked up at Tony he was surprised to see amusement in Tony's face. Tony stood there, anger gone, replaced with a deep sense of amusement and a smile that looked a bit on the wrong side of crazy. They stood there for a good ten seconds before Tony couldn't take it anymore.

"Alright, I accept your apology." Tony said, and had to hold back the snort when Thor beamed. "Alright, lets go up and get something to eat. I distinctly remember someone saying something about Pepper being here and worried. She's the last person you want to keep worried. Trust me, I know."

Tony talked the entire way up to the Tower's large, open spaced living room, probably trying to keep away any awkward silences, or, more likely, prying questions about his _disability_. They would get answers, whether it be today, tomorrow, or in another year, but they would get them.

When they got to the living room, Tony b-lined for Pepper, who was sitting on the couch doing some paperwork. She turned when she heard him approach. He sat next to her, putting an arm around her and kissing her cheek.

"What ya doing Pep?" He asked, as if he hadn't, just an hour ago, ran past her, worrying her to the point of near death and causing her to yell at the Avengers to fix it.

"Your paperwork Tony." She said, leaning into the kiss and sounding far less stressed out than she had when she had _spoken_ to the Avengers. "Are you ok?"

She glared slightly at the group behind them. They all looked away, not daring to meet Pepper's glare, even if it wasn't the strongest glare in her arsenal.

"I'm fine," Tony said, waving to the group of heros. "Come one guys, come sit. I'm sure you have questions."

"Questions?" Pepper asked curiously, playing innocent as everyone took a seat on either the couch across from Tony and Pepper, or in one of the chairs surrounding the table.

"You and I both know that you know Pep." Tony said, turning his head and tapping his ear, trying not to sound self-conscious, and failing.

They both knew Pepper knew, it just wasn't something they talked about, let alone acknowledged. So for Tony to be even going as far as hinting at it, Pepper came to the conclusion that Tony's deafness was the cause of everything that had happened that day; Tony storming in and the Avengers storming in after him. _Stupid Avengers._ She thought. She'd have to find out what had happened on the mission earlier that morning.

"You mean about you being deaf?" Pepper said nonchalantly, as if it didn't mean anything, which it, in fact, didn't; she still loved him no matter what. Tony nodded. "Yes I know about that."

"I thought you said you never told Pepper." Clint said.

"I didn't, but this _is_ Pepper we're talking about here." Tony said, pulling Pepper closer as the redhead blushed.

Clint opened his mouth but then shut it, tilting his head in acceptance. "Point."

"Now, questions?" Tony asked, looking at everyone expectedly; he knew they had them. "Though I reserve the right to refuse to answer any question I want."

Everyone looked around at each other, wondering what they should ask. They knew the basics from Tony's wary explanations down in the lab, but now they had a chance to learn the whole truth, if Tony would answer their questions. Now the only question; what to ask.

"How many people know?" Bruce blurted out.

"Just the people in this room." Tony answered without hesitation.

"What about your doctors?" Bruce asked worriedly. "Don't they know?"

"Like I said in the lab, I've never told anyone, not my doctor, whom I fired after I got back, so he never knew, not Rhodey, so don't mentioned it to him, not Pepper, but she's smart and figured it out on her own, not Fury, and I'd very much like to keep it that way, or I really will be kicked off the team forever, god knows the man wants me off anyway. He never even wanted me on it to begin with." Tony explained, saying the last part to himself. "I never planed to tell anyone, and I never had, until today."

"Why?" Steve asked, confusion on his face. "Why wouldn't you tell anyone that you're deaf?"

"Why would I tell anyone?" Tony asks, confusion echoing his features.

Everyone looked at Tony worriedly.

"You could have gotten help." Steve answered. "You wouldn't have had to deal with it on your own, it must have been very hard."

"If I told people, I'd be looked down upon for my... disability." Tony says the word like it's poison. "It wouldn't have been easier, it would have just made everything more difficult and I would have been pitied."

"Tony..." Pepper wrapped her hand around his and patted it.

Tony sighed, he was going to have to explain to them everything, he would have been looked at as an invalid, not able to do anything by himself, he really didn't even want to think about it, but he had to explain, or they would think him selfish and self destructive for not telling anyone, and that would only cause them to worry about him.

"I... I think I understand." Steve said, looking at Tony with an understanding look in his eyes. "You didn't want to be labeled useless because you couldn't hear... Even though you were fine other wise."

Tony looked at Steve in surprise; he was the last person TScalaony expected to understand him. Tony watched as the rest of the team nodded. He was glad that he didn't have to explain further, so he just nodded and waited for the next question.

"How did you obtain such a wound?" Thor asked, surprisingly quiet for the usually loud god.

Tony sighed, he might as well answer that, it was a decent question, he could also throw in some useless information to mask more important information he didn't want to tell them. Trick them into thinking he already told them.

"When I was captured in Afghanistan, I was with a convoy heading to base." Tony said, not looking anyone in the eye. "We were attacked and when I escaped the Humvee I was hit by a bomb. The sound alone was enough to damage my ears to the extent I could barely hear. And besides, the supplies the terrorists had were limited and were mostly used to keep me alive and implant the magnet that this thing powers." Tony tapped the Arc Reactor sadly. "So over the three months I was there, my hearing slowly got worse. They got infected by bacteria infested water, and a few weeks after my capture, I was told that I'd more than definitely lose all my hearing, yeah it was depressing, but it just made me want to get out all the more."

No one dared ask how water would get into his ears or who had told him he'd become deaf, not with the sad and hurt look on Tony's face. Natasha and Clint shared a look that told each other they were thinking the same thing. _We need reread that file on what happened in Afghanistan._ But both knew that there had to be more to it than what was in there, since Tony being deaf wasn't in the file at all.

"That is a horrible fate." Thor said sullenly.

"Yeah, but I'm use to it now." Tony said, waving the sadness in the air away with nonchalance. "JARVIS is programed to adjust to whether I'm wearing my hearing aids or not, and I've learned to read lips pretty good, so all's well."

"Did you actually go deaf while you were captured?" Bruce asked in slight horror.

"No, it happened a few weeks after I came back, after I closed down my weapons plant and was laying low in my lab." Tony said. "I was just sitting there, actually working on these things," He tapped his hearing aids. "When it happened. I knew I would go deaf sooner than later and I wanted to be helpless for as little a time as possible."

"How long did take for you to make those?" Natasha asked.

"About a week or so. It wasn't all that difficult." Tony said. "I just modified an existing model of a Cochlea Implant, I don't like doctors, you all know that, and Cochlea Implants demand to be implanted in the skull, and there's no way in hell I'm letting some hack cut into my head, let alone shave my head."

The team chuckled at the last comment.

"How do they work?" Clint asked, though he doubted he would understand the explanation Tony was about to give them.

"It's actually pretty simple, even Steve might be able to understand." Tony began, "They mostly work just like regular implants; device on my ear catches sound waves and sends them to my Scala tympani, the only difference is this." He taps the patch behind his ear. "This transmits the waves directly instead of going though the cochlea. It has its range of side effects, but all better than an invasive surgery that would cost tens of thousands of dollars."

"That's amazing!" Bruce said. "But you could have just gotten the implant and never had to deal with it again."

"Yeah, well I didn't want anyone to know, so it was either bribe a few doctors a whole nursing staff, the medical board and probably dozens of other people to keep their yappers shut, or make something to replace it." Tony explained. "So I decided not to chose the one that would cost me millions of dollar and probably not work. And besides a few headaches and some chafing, the hearing aids work perfectly. Besides, I've been working on a way to make them cheaper to make so I can make them for the public."

They all sat in silence as they thought about what Tony had just said. the quiet stretched on for a few minutes until it was too much to bare.

"You should have told us." Steve blurted out.

"And why would I tell you?" Tony deadpanned.

"Why _wouldn't_ you tell us?" Steve retorted frustratedly. "We're a team! We wouldn't have thought any less of you."

"How was I supposed to know that?" Tony asked in his own frustration. "We didn't exactly get off on the right foot as a team, I didn't trust any of you, heck I didn't even _like_ any of you, except Bruce. I didn't know you enough to trust you to even tell you anything of importance, let alone something I didn't want anyone else to know."

"And what about now? You still don't trust us?" Steve asked, slightly hurt.

"It's not about trust anymore." Tony said, turning his head towards the wall, looking away from everyone.

"Then what?" Steve asked. "Why would you tell us?"

"Listen Steve, you've read my file right?" Steve nodded. "Then you should know that I was originally _not_ recommended for the Avengers. I was considered self obsessed and didn't play well with others."

"Don't forget volatile." Pepper said, staring at Natasha and earning a look from Tony; which she just shrugged at.

"Anyway, Fury didn't want me on the team from the very beginning." Tony continued. "You saw how fast he was ready to get rid of me today, can you imagine if he found out I'm deaf? I'd be off the team faster than Clint could sting an arrow."

"We would not let him." Thor said.

"That's right, you're an asset to the team, despite being an ass most of the time." Clint said. "We would stage a strike or maybe even a coup."

"Yeah well, don't hate me for not taking your word for it." Tony said.

"Believe it or not Stark, we are sorry." Natasha said, the first thing she'd said since they were down in the lab.

"I don't doubt you." Tony said back.

"They why don't you believe us?" Bruce asked.

"It's not that I don't believe you, it's just that I don't think it would do jack shit." Tony said with a sigh. "This is Fury we're talking about. I doubt a little whining, or a strike would sway him. Besides, I wouldn't let you stage a strike, because then I'd be out there fighting and defending the city alone while you guys hold little signs walking in a circle and chanting some ridiculous little saying to get me back on the team."

"It doesn't have to be a strike! We could stage a coup!" Clint said, looking a bit to excited at overthrowing the government to be considered healthy.

"Clint, shut up." Natasha said, smacking the man in the back of the head.

"Oww." Clint whined, rubbing his head with his non-fractured hand.

For the first time in what seemed like forever, but was only a day at the most, the team heard Tony laugh. It made everyone smile at hearing the jovial sound.

"So, what do we do now?" Tony asked after he stopped laughing.

"What do you mean?" Steve asked.

"Well, obviously you guys are going to be forced to tell Fury now that you know." Tony said, and he saw that Steve and Bruce were about to argue, so he cut them off. "I know most of you wont, but I can't force you two," He looked at Natasha and Clint as he said this. "to keep it from him. I know how you are with telling Fury everything in your reports, and I don't mind. I mean to be honest, I fully expected this when I did decide to tell you. I just didn't think it'd be so soon. And truthfully, I'm surprised I was able to keep it hidden for so long."

"If you don't want us to, we wont tell Fury." Surprisingly this statement came from Natasha, but Clint nodded in agreement.

"I don't really care, even if I'm kicked off the team, I'll still be out there fighting." Tony said, trying to give off the vibe of not caring, and failing.

The team looked at each other in a silent conversation. They knew that being on the Avengers meant a lot to Tony, a lot more than he usually let on. The genius enjoyed working with them as a team. They knew what they had to do.

"Then I guess it's settled." Steve said, standing up.

"Going to call Fury?" Tony asked with poorly hidden sadness.

"No." Steve deadpanned. "I'm going to get some popcorn, I distinctly remember someone saying that the _Star Wars_ movies are a 'must see trilogy' and a 'significant part of my _reintroduction _to the American culture.'"

Steve smiled at the surprised look on Tony's face as he went to the kitchen, in fact, the entire group smiled; it wasn't often Tony was surprised(the lab incident notwithstanding). The surprise; however, quickly turned into a soft smile that, just as quickly morphed into a smirk as Tony caught on to what was happening.

"JARVIS?" Tony said, smirking up at the celling.

"_Yes Sir?_" The AI answered.

"You heard the Captain, bring up the original _Star Wars_ movies." Tony said as Steve came back in with a bowl of popcorn. "Dim the lights and order our usual from the pizza place down the street."

"_Already done Sir._"

The group comfortable and Steve sat back down as the lights dimmed an the large, flatscreen TV on the wall lit up with the beginning of the first _Star Wars_ movie. Tony looked around and smiled to himself as he thought _It could have been worse._ Tony leaned back into his couch and tightened his grip on Pepper and they all settled in to watch the movie.

* * *

**E/N~ Well What'd You Think? The Ending Was A Bit Tough For Me, But I Think It Came Out Okay. ****Please Tell Me What You Thought Of It In A Review! They Seriously Are Like My Life Blood!**

**& I Hope You Like It **_mythologyrox_**. It Was Your Prompt After All. That Was Really Fun To Write. **

**Or Send Me A PM With A Challenge Of Your Own, I've Got One For An Avenger/Harry Potter Fic. That I'm Just Starting To Plot Out, It'll Be A Chapter Fic, So I Wont Start ACTUALLY Writing It For A While, Until At Least ME Is Finished. But If You Have A Short OneShot Idea Or Even A TwoShot Idea, Send It My Way & I'll See What I Can Do. XD **

**Prompt: **

_Tony has a secret that he never told anyone about- he is blind (or deaf is you prefer). Now that the Avengers have to live with him, it's getting harder and harder masking his disability to them. One day they catch him off guard while he is in the lab, and finds out the secret._

**I Chose Deaf Obviously. ;P  
**

**Thanx For Reading! Unless You Just Scrolled Down To The Bottom & Read This Only For No Apparent Reason. *Shrugs* X3 **


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